Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Ella
“Dude, reader beware. If you read Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage, prepare to be seriously disturbed. I can’t tell you if that’s good or bad.”
—Lyle’s Staff Pick
I didn’t sleep at all that night. Every time I closed my eyes, an idea for the book fair sprouted.
Eventually I gave up on even trying and pulled out my laptop and some binders.
Hope was a dangerous thing that I hadn’t let myself get addicted to these past few months, but it tasted so good. It was all we had nowadays.
But even once that was all said and done, I lay in bed awake, staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow, I’d have to tell the booksellers that The Last Page was in danger of closing. Unable to sleep, I turned different words over in my head, trying to find the perfect combination.
When Leo passed, I found out late at night, alone.
I didn’t cry because I knew I had work ahead of me.
Telling the booksellers was no small feat and I hated being tasked with it.
I wanted a lawyer or literally anyone else to come in and explain it, so I could cry and fall apart.
But back then I thought it was the responsibility of the new owner.
Arms full of binders, I got to the store two hours early.
I set them all in Leo’s office and wandered around the store, trying to envision the fair.
The idea of goodbye was a rock in my stomach that wouldn’t go away.
But it felt like we had a real opportunity to save the store now, and I had to believe in it.
I was walking through the fiction section of the main floor when I heard the back door open.
“Ella? You in here yet?” Henry called out.
“In Fiction,” I called back. I was flipping through a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude, one of my favorites. “By the Ga’s.”
I heard him muttering to himself, probably trying to find the aisle.
“Here!” I called again.
He stepped into the aisle view and my heart thumped against my chest. He was wearing thicker-framed glasses today, ones I hadn’t seen.
Last night at Kingston Hall had been a test in patience.
The whole night I wanted to press my leg further into his or push his glasses up the bridge of his nose myself.
It wasn’t like I could stay away and starve these feelings, so I had to just stand here and pretend like I didn’t like his thick glasses as much as thin, wiry ones. Like my smiles weren’t just for him.
“I thought you’d be here early,” he said, leaning against the bookshelf.
My eyes darted away from him. I’d never get used to the sight of Henry leaning.
I once thought I was invincible to it. I’d taken boys on dates here in high school and they’d do that trick and I’d just roll my eyes and go back to searching for my book.
But Henry was a drug I didn’t want to quit.
“Mmhmm.” I nodded, my voice high. “A little nervous.”
“It’ll be okay,” he said softly. “They love you. I know exactly how this will go down.”
I raised my eyebrows. I snapped my book shut and tucked it against my chest. “Oh yeah? Let’s hear it.”
“I’ll set the scene,” he said. “You’re standing behind the main info desk. Everyone’s gathered around, all nervous. Someone, probably Joey or Jack, will ask a question that’ll lead to everyone asking one.”
“Per usual.”
He nodded. “Then you’ll quiet everyone and tell them what’s going on. Tell them we’re planning a fundraiser and they’ll all be quiet for a second before asking a million more questions. Then someone, probably Ameerah or Sarah, will ask how they can help.”
“Almost three months here and you’ve got us down pat, huh?”
“There’s nothing bad about a little predictability, especially in this group.”
“What if they quit?” I asked quietly. “Who wants to stay in a job that might not be here in a few months?”
“You would,” he said. “Leo would. And they know that.” I nodded, taking a deep breath. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
“We’re a weird little family. It’s just that no one likes to disappoint their family.”
Henry gave a humorless laugh. He pushed himself off the bookshelf and said, “You’re talking to the expert of that here. I’ll see you at main info soon.”
The Last Page took a lot to run. It heavily relied on the work of the booksellers and we tried to pay them accordingly. I hated the horror stories of bookstores giving the bare minimum to their workers, barely any pay, shitty health insurance, and terrible working conditions.
What I told Henry was true: These people had become my family. Most of them watched me grow up and experience loss and heartbreak and growing pains.
Despite all of that, I was still incredibly nervous.
Henry hit the nail right on the head. I was standing anxiously behind main info, wrenching my hands back and forth as I waited for everyone to arrive.
Since it was a Sunday, one of the busiest days, we had most of the booksellers working, but I sent an email to everyone asking them to come in if they could this morning since I had an announcement.
There weren’t many well-kept secrets at The Last Page, except for Leo’s health, and I wanted them to hear it from me first.
Once the booksellers all arrived, I shot them a nervous smile. Henry stood at the very back of the room by the staircase. His arms were crossed over his chest and he locked eyes with me. He gave me a single nod of encouragement and a soft smile.
“Thank you all for coming this morning, especially those that aren’t working. I’ll try to make this brief.”
I watched some of them exchange nervous glances with each other. I looked up at Henry who jutted his chin out toward Joey, who had a hand raised.
“Told you so,” Henry mouthed.
“What’s up, Joey?”
“Are you firing all of us?”
“What? No, not at all.”
“Did Henry die?” he asked as a follow-up.
Rich elbowed him and said, “That’s a rude question.”
“It’s sincere! Last time we had a meeting like this, Leo had died.”
“Henry’s standing right behind you, dumbass,” Jack said. Joey whipped around to see Henry on the stairs. Henry raised his hand in a wave and Joey gulped.
“Thank God,” Joey said, loudly. “Because I love Henry.”
A shadow of a smile crossed Henry’s face as he shook his head.
“Is this about the fridge?” Mabel asked, a hand on her hip. “Because I don’t think we should be able to store our groceries in the fridge.”
“I only have my lunch break to shop,” David said defensively. “Not all of us live near a Wegmans or Trader Joe’s. I can’t not take this opportunity.”
“You should consider adding some more vegetables to your diet,” Mina said quietly. “Lots of frozen food.”
“I love the Trader Joe’s chicken tikka masala, though, David. That’s a good pick,” Noah added.
“I know what this is about,” Joey announced.
“Do tell,” Jack muttered, picking a book up off one of the tables to flip through it.
“Ella wants to reinstate me as events director. Give me a raise and a promotion.”
Some of the booksellers shot me a panicked look, but I shook my head. “Joey, I wouldn’t put you back on events, even if you paid me.”
“That’s just hurtful,” Joey muttered.
And just like Henry predicted, pandemonium broke out. Everyone was speaking up, some airing out their grievances and some questioning what was going on and others asking to speed all of this up.
“Okay, okay, listen,” I shouted over the chatter. They quieted down and turned their eyes to me. I took a deep, shaky breath. “There’s no easy way to say this, okay? And I want you to know Henry and I have looked at this from every angle and we’re doing everything we possibly can.
“For those of you who remember the burst pipe that happened a few years ago, there was a lot of damage done. We had to do a lot of repairs and replacements and like a lot of you, I never really thought of it ever again. Leo never hinted that anything was wrong.
“I know Henry shook things up when he came in, but you all should know he worked as a business consultant for years. Going over all the finances for the store, he realized that we were in debt.
“Leo was never able to dig us out of the hole, and as payments came late, the debt only grew. And the typical problems that come with literature have harmed us: fewer hardback sales and more paperbacks. Fewer paperbacks and more e-books.”
“What’re you saying?” Daniel asked quietly.
Although I’d known for some time, it didn’t get easier to talk about. I cleared my throat, trying to wash away the emotion evident in it.
“We’re on track to close by the end of summer.”
This was where Henry had gotten it all wrong. They didn’t break out into a million questions like he’d thought. Instead, they looked back at me, shell-shocked. Mabel immediately started crying. It was probably the quietest that the booksellers had ever been all together.
“I know,” I said, tears thickening my throat.
“But just because we’re on track to close, doesn’t mean we will.
We brought back events to help us out, and it has, but we have plans for something bigger.
Henry and I have been working out the details for a fundraiser that could hopefully buy us more time until we become stable again. ”
“How can we help?” Ameerah asked.
My gaze flew back up to Henry, who was surprisingly wiping tears from his eyes, his glasses resting on the top of his head.
I wished I hadn’t spent so much time being angry at him.
Suddenly, I regretted all the careless words I’d tossed at him.
This place meant as much to him as it did to me. And the fact that he just got it back …
“Honestly, we’ll need all hands on deck. It might be some extra work, and we’re not really in any position for overtime or raises—”
“Whatever you need,” Ren spoke up. “We’ll be here.”
The booksellers nodded in agreement and this time I let the tears spring into my eyes.
Like any family, we all often fought or disagreed with each other. We went through periods of distress and major love. And sometimes I wanted to wring their necks, but I still loved all of them. Even Jack.
Family stuck together.
Once the store opened, Henry and I went up to reconvene in Leo’s office. He stopped in his tracks when he took in the desk.
“Ella …”
I stood in front of him and said, “I know it’s a lot, but just hear me out.”
He walked past me and picked up one of the ten binders sitting on his desk. I was inspired last night, recalling the days when you’d walk down the hall, buzzing with excitement over the book fair.
There was a reason Leo had always read storytime. That’s when kids fell in love with reading, and he’d wanted a hand in creating the next generation of readers. The Scholastic Book Fair did just that. Having our own book fair was the perfect way to honor Leo while saving the store.
“I just fleshed out a lot of the ideas we already came up with. Plus a few more we don’t have to use,” I said quickly. “And maybe some aren’t possible or they’re too expensive, but I just thought it’d be best to throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.”
Henry said nothing as he picked up another binder, flipping through the pages. I’d grown used to the serious expression that transformed his face when he was in “business” mode. His eyebrows would dip, his jaw tensing.
“I know you probably don’t want it to be this big thing, but we need to capture the vibe perfectly if we’re going to pull this off. So the details really matter here, but if you tell me a budget, I’ll stick to it,” I promised. “And this won’t be a money pit—”
Henry snapped the binder closed and turned to me. “You don’t have to convince me of anything, Ella. I’m all in.”